Cooking and heating apparatus



'(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H. G. O'NEILL. I COOKING AND HEATING APPARATUS.

Patented Mar. 5, 1895.

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v (No Model.)

H. G. O'NEILL. COOKING AND HEATING APPARATUS.

No. 535,072. Patented Mar. 5, 1895.

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY G. ONEILL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO EDWARD JElVEI-L, OF SAMEPLAOE, AND CHARLES TV. WELOH, OF STOUGHTON,

MASSACHUSETTS.

COOKING AND HEATING APPARATUS SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 535,072, dated March 5, 1895.

Application filed February s, 1894;. Serial No. 499,445- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: I

Be itknown that I, HENRY G. ONEILL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefullmprovements in Cooking and Heating Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others .[0 skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

' This invention pertains to the art of heat ing by electricity and more especially to electrically heating utensils which contain resistances, by placing them on a range table or other support provided with conductors and contacts for making circuit through the re' sistance when the utensil ,is set on the said support.

The chief object of the said invention is to make this use of electricity practical to untrained hands by dispensing with wires and attachments dangling from the utensil, which prove a constantsource of annoyance and inconvenience, and a continual menace to the uninitiated, frequently causing short circuits and other troubles that tend to keep electricity out of domestic use. To this end 1 provide the implement or utensil with rigidly at 0 tached bars or pieces, called projectors, which may also serve as feet forit, of electrically conducting material insulated from the body of the said utensil, extending belowthe same and connected electrically with the ends of the 3 5 insulated resistance. Animplement or utensil thus constructed forms the subject matter of my application filed March 23, 1894, Serial N0.'50 L,S64. I adapt the range or other support of thesaid utensil. thereto, by providing 40 it with contact pieces, arranged in pairs in grooves or recesses formed in the upper part of the said support, so that when the said utensilis placed thereon with its projectors entering the said grooves they may easily be moved 5 into contact with the said contact pieces,

thereby closing the circuit through the resistance aforesaid. Also an additional resistance is placed in the range or support itself and one or more pairsof the said contact pieces are wired to it so that when the circuit is closed through any such pair the said additional resistance, beingin thesamecircnit, will reduce the power of the electric current, suiting it to the action of a slow tire; whereas it the circuit be closed through contacts not connected to this extra resistance the full force of the current, with the effect of a hot fire, will be applied to the resistance in the utensil. A range or support thus constructed, provided, and adapted forms the subject mat- 6o ter of my application filed February ll, 189i, Serial No. 500,136.

In the present application I do not claim either the utensil per se or the range or supportper se; but the subject matter of my invention, as hereinafter claimed, consists in the combination of the aforesaid devices and in certain improvements hereinafter more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 7 represents a plan view of a range or other support embodying my invention,,'the utensil being indicated in outline and the projectors thereof by dotted lines. Fig. 3 represents on an enlarged scale a similar view of a part of the same, showing the pilot-lamp in position. Fig. 3 represents a vertical section through the utensil and a part of the range on the line 00-210 of Fig. 1, showing the projectors and contact pieces in contact. Fig. 4 represents a view similar to Fig. 1 of another modification but without the utensil and showing the connections of the pilotlamps.

A designates the body of the utensil; B, its removable base; 0, the resistance in the said base;D, the insulating'cement therefor; E, the projectors connected with the ends of the said resistance, and F the strips insulating the said projectors from the said base.

G designates the body of the range orother support, H the grooves arranged in the top thereof in parallel pairs, and I the resistance arranged in the said range or support. The said grooves are provided at their ends with 95 pairs of contact plates, springs or pieces J J, or J J The contacts J J of each pair of grooves are provided with circuit feed wires K I. The contacts J J of one pair of grooves are provided in like manner with cir- Ice t "5 pair of grooves are entirelynuconnectci are each other. When the pro jcctors E of the. utensil, sliding along the said grooves. arebrought into contact with either pair of the contact plates J J'or J J" arranged therein, the entire forceof the electric current will pass through theresistance Got the utensil producing ahot quick. the. The, contacts J J of the other pair-of grooves are used for producing a slowfire. For this purpose wires 7; it connect the contacts J J respectively with opposite ends of a heat'regulating resistance 1, and a wire k connects the contactJ with the contact J iVhen the projectors of the-utensil fit into the contacts J 5 01 this pair of grooves the circuit-will be through contact J, wire 70, resistancel,

' wire is, contact F, the projectors and resist? ance of the utensil, contact J wire is? and contact J consequentlylesseuing the heatzpro dncing power'in the utensil by the interposition of the resistance 1 in the circuit. The effect is the same as that of a slow fire. By

shifting the utensil and its projectors alongthis pair of guiding grooves, the cook may cally without impediment, whenthere is need.

The contac pieces shown int'he application aforesait, Serial No. 500,136, and in Fig. 1 of the present application are of abent or. broadly U -shaped kind, practically parallel to the sides of the grooves and presenting their convex faces outward. For'greater security of circuit'closing action and for lamps as hereinafter stated, I prefer togivc these contact pieces a flaring shape as shown,

and to arrange-them at-the-ends of the grooves,

facing lengthwise thereof as shown in Fig. 2; although depressible contact pieces attached at one end only may be employed as in Fig.4.

As the majority of persons who will use these ranges and utensils are untr'ained' in electrical matters, it hecomes important to provide unmistakable means for automatically indicating :theclosing of the circuit. end I employ for each pairof grooves a lamp L connected by. wires Z Z Z l 'to contact posts J J J J respectively are forced, against by the pressure of the projectors E when these spread the't'ork sliaped contact-springs, Fi 2, by entering them, or rest upon those of the hat :t'orin sh in-hfig. at. In the former case, each contact post is-at one side of the 7 es $13K? I The two pairs of conoperatingthe' spend to" that of a slow To this contact spring which is to he held against it.

pieces, the projectors being in or on them the circuit is closed through the lamp beltinging to that pair of grooves, which at once becomes luminous and so continues while the heating actionv is going on. \Yhehfthe utensil is lifted or moved along the grooves out of such engagement, the heating actiod'c'eases instantly and the lamp is simultaneously darkened. ldenominate these lamps pilotlainpsbecause they ailord a sure guide to the condition of the circuits and the heating and cooking; I prefer phosphor bronze for the contact pieces and posts though many other materials will answer.

It is obvious that the customary fuses should be used for "each circuit,conveniently located; that' lids or covers should he placed over the contact springs to prevent accumulation of dirt and the meddling of childrenand that the material employed in the construction of the range, table, sideboard. other supportshould withstand host and i er and beef electrically insulating mate or otherwise insulated. Enameled iron, soapstone,marble,

'durite, artificial or natural wood rendered incombustible and waterproof will answer the purpose admirably.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A range or other support provided with a pair of grooves, which are for a portion of their length provided with contactrsurfaces and having the remaining portion-not so p'rovided..so that the article maybe placed'in or out of circuit by merely sliding it along the grooves substantially asset forth; 1 v '2. In an electric heating apparatus-or systom the combination of a support provided with a pair of grooves ,havinga pair of contacts at each end, with an implement or'uten sil provided with projecting conductingparts V and interposed resistance, an additional heat regulating resistance, electric conductors making circuit throughthe latter resistance and one pair of the said contacts, and addi-. ,tionahelectrical conductors making circuit through the other pair of contacts bu't not through the said heatiregulating resistance thetshitting of the utensil from one pair of contacts to the other along the said grooves regulating the heating effect so as to corresubstantially as set forth.

3. In combinationwith autensil orartlcle. D havinga resistance within it and provided m m m m which the flexible contact springs with rigid conducting parts which are connected to the ends of thesaid resistance", a range or other support having a pane: flexible or yielding'coptact pieces, circuit wiresrunning to the said pieces,-c ontact posts arranged to be touched by the said yielding contact'pieces when the latter are'inovedb'y fire or. a quick firethe pressure of said conductors, and an electric lamp and its Wires connecting with the said posts, the circuit being closed through the said lamp and the resistance in the utensil simultaneously, substantially as set forth.

4. An article or utensil provided with an insulator and rigid conductors attached to the ends of the said insulator and in combination with a range table or othersupport having or equivalent conductors running to the said contact pieces and an electric lamp and connections arranged to be brought into the circuit when the said springs are thus depressed substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in'presence of two Witnesses.

HENRY G. ONEILTI.

Vitnesses:

EDWIN W. PIERCE, PELATIAH R. TRIPI 

